Skate



l -UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS YV. BROWN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SKATE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 22,932, dated February 15, 1859.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS IV. BROWN,

of Boston, in the county of Suiiolk andV State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Skate; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and the. accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l, is a. top view. Figs. 2, and 3, side elevations, and Figs. 4: and 5, transverse sections of it, the two sections being taken through the devices by which the toe and heel plates are connected to the runner.

My said skate combines the advantages of the rocker skate and the angular heel or straight runner skate, and can be used as either. What is meant by the rocker, is a skate having the bearing edge of it-s runner curved both at the toe and the heel and made straight vor slightly curved between the same.

Fig. 6 will serve to illustrate the form of the rocker runner. The angular heel runner is exhibited in Fig. 7. In this runner the heel is made angular as shown at a, while the front or toe end of the runner is curved as shown at o. The bearing edge, c, is usually made straight.

In my improved skate as shown in Figs..

l, 2, 3, 4, and 5, A, denotes the runner, B, the toe plate or that on which the fro-nt part of the foot rests. O, is the heel plate and D, the heel screw.

In carrying out my invention, I form the runner A, with one edge, a I) o CZ, having the shape or configuration of the bearing edge of the common rocker skate and I construct the opposite edge viz., a o CZ, like the bearing edge of the angular heel skate making at Z an angular heel.

The heel screw C, projects from a. standard E, which bears by a shoulder on the top edge and extends down on one side of the runner and is secured to it by a screw f, which goes through the standard and is screwed into the runner. The toe or ball plate B, is fastened to the runner by similar devices, as shown at F, and g. Furthermore, the heel plate screws upon the screw D, so as to be adjustable with reference to the upper end of the screw, or in other words, at a greater or less distance therefrom, as circumstances may require. The object of this is to enable a person to eX- tend the screw into the heel of his shoe or boot as far as he may desire and afterward turn the heel rest up against the heel so as to insure a firm bearing of the heel on the skate and prevent the screw from working out of the heel. The holes in the runners that are to receive the screws, f, lo, should be made in or very near the middle of it in order to enable the runner to be reversed, that is so as to have its upper edge turned downward whenever occasion may require.

With the angular heel skate or straight iron skate as it is frequently termed, a person in order to stop himself while skating has only to elevate the toes of his feet so as to bring the sharp angles of the heels of the runners into close bearing upon the ice. They will cut into it and soon more or less or entirely check his motion. He cannot, however, operate in this manner with the rocker skate, but must adopt a different process as is well known to those who use such. For swiftness of motion the rocker is generally preferred to the angular heel runner. In my improved runner, each edge is curved at the toe while but one is curved at the heel. This enables the runner to be used with either edge downward so that the advantages of both kinds of skate are possessed by it.

I usually construct the front or ball rest B, of thin sheet metal, and furnish it with short spurs or studs, z', z', to ent-er the sole yof a persons shoe when the skate is applied thereto. In order to fasten the skate on the foot, leather straps may be used and they may be carried under the heel and toe plates `and about the foot as circumstances may require. For facilitating theiXation of the skate to the foot of a person as well as to render it lighter than it would otherwise be, the runner may be formed with openings lo, Z, m., through which the straps may be carried if desirable.

I claiml. The rocker and angular heel or straight edge runner made substantially in manner as described and applied to the bearing plates or their equivalent so as to be capable of being` reversed with respect to the In testimony whereof, I have hereunto same and used with either edge downward set my signature.

as may be desirable.

2. I also claim the application of the heel THOMAS 1W BROWN 5 plate to the heel screw so as to be adjustable Witnesses:

F. P. HALE, Jr.,

on or with reference thereto substantially LAWRENCE LYoNs.

in manner and for the purpose as described. 

